Film Subtitles Research Articles

Insights into the subtitling of films from Arabic into Spanish

Audiovisual translation studies (AVT) have experienced an exponential growth in the last twenty years, have consolidated proven analysis methodologies, and attracted the interest mainly of Western scholars. It is interesting to investigate whether these methodologies are also applicable to the study of subtitling of films from linguistically and culturally distant cultures such as Egyptian and Spanish. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to verify whether the translation norms proposed in the translation methods for dubbing and subtitling, traditionally based on language combinations with English, are applicable for the specific case of the Arabic-Spanish language combination, based on the analysis of the treatment of the cultural elements present in the audiovisual texts selected for this research. Among the findings, the distinctive features and colloquial character and spontaneity of the original versions are frequently lost.

Grabbing the Long Tail: A data normalization method for diverse and informative dialogue generation

Recent neural models have shown significant progress in dialogue generation. Among those models, most of them are based on language models, yielding the generation word by word according to the previous context. Due to the inherent mechanism in language models, as well as the most frequently used cross-entropy function (making the distribution of generations approximate that of training data continuously), trained generation models inevitably tend to generate frequent words in training datasets, leading to low diversity and poor informativeness issues. By investigating a few mainstream dialogue generation models, we find that the probable cause is the intrinsic Long Tail Phenomenon in linguistics. To address these issues of low diversity and poor informativeness, we explore and analyze a large corpus from Wikipedia, and then propose an efficient frequency-based data normalization method, i.e., Log Normalization. Furthermore, we explore another two methods, Mutual Normalization and Log-Mutual Normalization, to eliminate the mutual information effect. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed methods, we conduct extensive experiments on three datasets with different subjects, including social media, film subtitles, and online customer service. Compared with the vanilla transformers, generation models augmented with our proposed methods achieve significant improvements in generated responses, in terms of both diversity and informativeness. Specifically, the unigram and bigram diversity in the responses are improved by 8.5%–14.1% and 19.7%–25.8% on the three datasets, respectively. The informativeness (defined as amounts of nouns and verbs) is increased by 13.1%–31.0% and 30.4%–59.0%, respectively. Moreover, our methods can be adapted to new generation models efficiently and effectively, with their model-agnostic characteristics.

Napisy filmowe jako źródło ekwiwalentów przekładowych w polsko-czeskim korpusie równoległym InterCorp

The article focuses on using film subtitles in the process of establishing Polish-Czech language pairs. Research material comes from the resources of the OpenSubtitles website with non-professional subtitling. The research material was analysed using KonText – the main search tool in InterCorp. As a starting point, the author analysed a dictionary entry for the Polish exclamation cholera in a traditional Polish translation dictionary like Polish-Czech Dictionary (Oliva). It presents translation equivalents in translation pairs such as cholera – sakra, hergot, do cholery – do hajzlu, idź do cholery – táhni ke všem čertům, do jasnej cholery – k sakru, do hajzlu, cholera mnie bierze – čerti mě berou. All the translation equivalent pairs have been analysed using the corpus analysis with three functionalities available in the KonText search engine: type of question (typ dotazu), content of the equivalent (obsahuje), and limiting search (omezit hledání). The conducted corpus analysis allowed for the verification of information in the traditional dictionary, but also to find newequivalents that have not been registered yet which could also be used in translation.

Film Subtitling: A New Research Genre in Africa

Subtitling is one of the modalities or modes of language transfer like dubbing, voice-over and audio-description which are used in the area of screen translation or audiovisual translation (AVT). It has a fairly long history and is an ever-growing specialisation across the globe. It is firmly established in such European countries as Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Sweden, in Israel, in Australia, and in a few countries of Asia such as Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan and of South America such as Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. In Africa, subtitling is an emerging university discipline in the field of Translation Studies (TS). It is gaining ground in such countries as Cameroun, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Egypt, Zambia, and South Africa.While research in subtitling is far advanced in Europe and other parts of the world, Africa is lagging so far behind that it is always under-represented at international AVT conferences. It is against this background that the present paper deals with the status of subtitling as a new research genre in Africa. The purpose of this paper is thus to sensitise the students and other researchers in translation to the potentialities that subtitling offers in the African context. The hypothesis underlying the paper is that subtitling is both a burgeoning and captivating area of study and that it opens new avenues in AVT research.

Independent versus latched interjections: Co-textual differences and their expendability in film subtitling

This study investigates the distinction between interjections as independent utterances (e.g. Ow!) and those latched onto other utterances (e.g. the ow in Ow, I wasn’t ready). The aim is to provide possible explanations for the perhaps counter-intuitive finding that independent interjections were omitted more frequently than latched interjections in the context of English-to-Chinese film subtitling, despite the fact that latched interjections are syntactically optional. Drawing on the Systemic Functional Linguistic treatment of interjections, this study focuses on the independent interjections realizing exclamations and the latched interjections realizing Expletives. Based on close analysis of the verbal co-text of exclamations and Expletives in two generically different English films, it was found that exclamations typically occur as isolates from their verbal co-text, whereas Expletives are necessarily integrated into their verbal cotext. It is thus proposed that the isolation from the verbal co-text may contribute to the greater expendability of exclamations compared to Expletives. This research is thus significant in highlighting what appears to be an unnoticed distinction between independent and latched interjections, which may condition the decision as to whether to subtitle soundtrack interjections.

语言顺应论角度下电影字幕翻译的娱乐化倾向研究——以《囧妈》为例

语言顺应论角度下电影字幕翻译的娱乐化倾向研究——以《囧妈》为例

Subtitling of ostensible speech acts (OSAs)

Abstract Persian-English subtitling of Iranian films deals with the challenges of understanding and transferring ostensible speech acts (OSAs). Both linguistic and cultural variations of these elements in Persian and English are expected to create serious difficulties for subtitlers. Although few studies with pragmatics approach have been conducted to interpret the meaning of Persian OSAs, they have been practically ignored in the fields of translation and subtitling. To fill this gap, this study aims to descriptively investigate the transference of the meaning of 80 Persian OSAs from selected Iranian films. It also analyses perceptions of 106 target text audiences of subtitled OSAs by examining their level of comprehension of 14 subtitled OSAs and the effective factors on their understandings. Finally based on the findings emerged from the descriptive and survey analyses, this study proposes a guideline for Persian-English on assisting the transfer of the intended meaning of OSAs.

Shift of Form and Meaning in The Translation of Bilal Animation Film Subtitle: “A New Breed of Hero (2015)”

This article will generally examine the translation shift of form and meaning of the subtitle animated film Bilal: A New Breed of Hero (2015) works by Ayman Jamal with duration 1 hour 51 minutes 43 seconds. The approach used in this study is describing the form and meaning shifting of the translation used by the translator in translating its film. The research method is qualitative descriptive method. The source of the data in the film: Bilal (2015) and the subtitle. Data collection was performed by the method of non-interactive form of observation by exploring in general the film along with the subtitle translation, then the observation is focused with a narrow aspect of translation shift in form and meaning. The research showed that from 297 data, there are 3 types of shift forms, namely 77 data shift at the level of the morpheme, 53 data shift in word category, and 115 data shift at the level of syntax. As for the shift in meaning, there are 3 types, namely 16 data from the generic meaning to the specific, 13 data from the specific meaning to the generic and 23 data shift according to the cultural point of view.

Translation constraints of eastern loans in russian film subtitles in French

The active development of intercultural communication in the cinematic arts sets new challenges for translation theorists and practitioners. The article presents concepts that are widely used in film translation, provides a classification of audiovisual translation types, and for the first time establishes a distinction between such concepts of translation studies as: “langue relais” (translator language), ”langue pont” (transition language),”langue véhiculaire” (Transporter language) and “langue interface” (interface language). Using the example of subtitles for the film “Turkish gambit”, the authors identified ways to translate them from Russian to French and conducted a detailed statistical analysis of the frequency of using methods of translating subtitles. According to the results of experimental data, borrowing was the leading technique in translating subtitles of Boris Akunin’s script “Turkish gambit”, which necessitated a comparative study of borrowings of Eastern languages, their assimilation in Russian and French, and translation features. The use of etymological, component and morphological analysis methods allowed us to identify the specifics of translation of orientalisms in Russian and French.

The pragmatics of audiovisual translation: Voices from within in film subtitling

This article focuses on film subtitles, as a distinctive instantiation of cinematic discourse and a distinctive form of translation. Like dubbing and audiovisual translation more broadly, interlingual subtitling is increasingly recognised as a meaning-making mode and language variety in its own right, so far usually with application to single language pairs. In the pilot study reported here, the representational potential of subtitling is approached comparatively across different languages, with a dual objective: to further enquiry into the distinctiveness and creativity of subtitling as a mode of expression, and to make a start on inspecting how different languages may harness their own specificities to the demands and opportunities of interlingual subtitling. The work has drawn on (Romance) French, Italian, Spanish and (Germanic) English and German subtitle data, all from Lonergan's 2016 feature film in US English Manchester by the Sea. Representation of source dialogues is explored qualitatively across these languages from a broad cross-cultural pragmatics perspective, in a subset of scenes from across the film and with particular focus on functional pragmatic markers. The study is exploratory at this stage, but part of a broader agenda intended to increase our understanding of audiovisual translation as intercultural mediation.

Interpersonal functions of interjections

Abstract Motivated by the frequent omission of interjections from film subtitles, this study investigates the interpersonal functions of interjections, and seeks to disentangle their meaning relations. Based on the analysis of interjections from six English language films under the theoretical framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), the study primarily classifies the functions of interjections in terms of whether the interjections independently realize moves in exchange. The function of the interjection which realizes a move on its own is described at the semantic stratum in terms of a minor speech function, and the function of the interjection which realizes a move together with a clause is described at the lexicogrammatical stratum in terms of an optional clausal function referred to as a ‘latched function’. The study highlights the distinction between latched functions and their agnate minor speech functions, and offers more delicate accounts of the functions of interjections. It proposes a system network of the minor speech functions, which can facilitate a more systematic analysis of the functions realized by interjections. This study contributes to the SFL description of English interjections, and can offer methodological insights into further research on the functionality of interjections.

Public policies and strategies to foster access to films in a minority language. Catalonia and film subtitling 2015-2017

ABSTRACT In 2016, following the partial repeal of Catalonia’s Cinema Act (Llei del Cinema, 2010), the ‘Digital Levy’ (taxa tecnològica, 2014) and the serious economic crisis, the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya decided to subsidise dubbing and subtitling to ensure that Catalans could have access to films in their own language. This decision was taken with regard to new distribution platforms (VOD, Smart TV, etc.), film festivals and traditional exhibition formats. After three years in force, the combination of aid and bilateral agreements has proven to be effective for normalising access to audiovisual content in Catalan, encouraging diversity and exiting the legislative logjam that had, since 2010, been affecting public policy on the film industry in Catalonia. This article analyses the public policies, strategic plans, outcomes of agreements and production figures by means of case studies, data analysis, and in-depth interviews.

Translating swear words from English into Galician in film subtitles

Abstract As stated by Jay and Janschewitz (2008), the primary pragmatic function of swear words is to express emotions, such as anger and frustration. The main objective of the present paper is to analyse the translation of the two commonest English swear words, fuck and shit (Jay 2009: 156) – together with their morphological variants – into Galician. The research instrument used for this purpose has been the Veiga Corpus, a bilingual English-Galician corpus of subtitles. Regarding the results obtained in this study, the most frequent solution has been pragmatic correspondence, followed by omission, softening, and de-swearing. However, descending in the analysis, clear differences emerge between the treatment of the two words. Thus, the tendency to sanitize the Galician subtitles by omitting, neutralizing or smoothing swearwords is much more evident in the case of fuck. This finding may be explained by the difference in tone between the two taboo words analysed. As shit is considered milder, translators may feel there is no need to tone it down. In addition, while shit has a literal translation which is perfectly natural in Galician, that is not the case with fuck. Finally, the grammatical category variable has also been found to have an effect on the choice of translation solution.

Cinematic Equivalence in Subtitling: A Case Study of the Biographical Drama Forever Enthralled

We propose in this paper a conceptual model of how equivalence may be achieved in subtitling to allow the target language viewers the opportunity to enjoy a comparable cinematic experience as that enjoyed by the source language viewers. We follow Brock’s (2015) adaptation of Goffman’s (1981) participation framework in communication and take Nida’s (1964) Dynamic Equivalence as the point of departure to propose Cinematic Equivalence as the conceptual model as well as the aim of film subtitling. This model is illustrated by examining the English subtitles of a Chinese biographical film called Forever Enthralled (?????). Based on our conceptual model, we make suggestions for subtitling training and practice.

Napisy na ekranach kin II Rzeczypospolitej

Polish Subtitling in the 1930s This article presents the results of an archival study on Polish subtitling of pre-WWII films (until 1939). The main focus will be on the technical aspects of subtitling in Poland in the 1930s, such as the number of lines, number of characters per line, and subtitle display times. We will show the development of Polish film translation in its initial phase. In our article, we will present previously unpublished pictures of early film subtitles, which come from original archival research. Contrary to some previous claims, film translation did not start with the introduction of sound in films – which occurred in Poland in the 1929/30 cinema season. Prior to that, in the silent cinema period, intertitles were a tested way of delivering content to the viewer. And these silent movies’ intertitles were translated. Copies of various foreign films have even been preserved with Polish intertitle translation rather than the original intertitles. Imitating intertitles in silent films, subtitles began to appear in films with sound and dialogue. These were “inserted subtitles” – between scene edits. Only later were subtitles burnt into the image, which began modern film subtitling.

Discourse Marker well and Functional Approach to its Translation into Russian in Film Subtitling and Dubbing

The article is concerned with pragmatic functions of the discourse marker well in film dialogues and the means of its functional translation into Russian in subtitles and dubbing. A number of linguistic and extralinguistic parameters are used for a thorough contextual analysis of each occurrence of well in 11 feature films made between 1997 and 2017. The analysis results in identifying the following textual: floor-gaining, arranging topic shifts, indicating dialogue frames, contraposition, justification, clarification, repair and quotation - and interpersonal functions of well: prompting, hesitation, evasion, emphasis and humility. The article continues with a qualitative and quantitative account of translation decisions for the discourse marker well in subtitles and dubbing. For every textual and interpersonal function of well, we establish functional equivalents and assess the proportion of marker omission and the proportion of functional losses. Finally, the subtitled and dubbed versions are compared in terms of the proportion of marker omission and the proportion of functional losses. The conclusion is drawn on the apparent correlation between the degree of functional equivalence achieved in translation of well, on the one hand, and technical and textual constraints of both subtitling and dubbing, on the other.

Implicações da globalização e da padronização linguística nos padrões de legendagem e o dialeto visual como estratégia para legendar a variação linguística

Globalização e padronização caminham juntas. A padronização linguística é um elemento importante para garantir a unidade de uma língua e, no caso do espanhol, é uma característica fortemente presente nas políticas linguísticas e na consciência dos falantes. O s. XXI tem vivido uma mudança importante com a construção de uma nova política linguística pan-hispânica e o planejamento de uma norma pluricêntrica do espanhol na qual nenhuma variedade deve se impor sobre à s demais. Mas, apesar do discurso institucionalizado em favor da unidade do espanhol e de seu fortalecimento como língua de globalização, continuam sendo produzidas traduções diferentes para o espanhol peninsular e o americano, conhecido no meio da tradução como espanhol neutro: uma variedade que se propõe a evitar usos excessivamente localizados. Esta variedade, utilizada também nos noticiários e em algumas telenovelas produzidas para difusão internacional com a intenção de abranger o maior número de espectadores, surgiu nas comunidades da prática como uma construção a muitas mãos desenvolvida de maneira empírica por tradutores e comunicadores sem o amparo de uma padronização oficial. O espanhol neutro tem reconhecimento oficial em vários países, mas ainda apresenta lacunas importantes que precisam ser problematizadas. Além da padronização linguística, a globalização e os avanços tecnológicos têm provocado importantes mudanças nos padrões de legendagem existentes para as diferentes línguas. Este trabalho apresenta um breve histórico dessa evolução e analisa alguns exemplos de tradução para discutir as repercussões negativas que o excessivo apego à norma padrão e ao espanhol neutro pode ter no poder expressivo das legendas de filmes e séries, resultando numa linguagem asséptica que, além de apagar as marcas da oralidade, neutraliza traços dos personagens que dizem respeito a seu estado psicológico, idade, gênero e procedência geográfica e social. Também é trazida à tona a necessidade de um novo olhar para lidar com a legendagem de palavrões e de filmes multilíngues e, por fim, são exploradas as possibilidades criativas do dialeto visual como estratégia para legendar a variação linguística.

THE SUBTITLING STRATEGIES USED IN INDONESIAN FILM

The social phenomena can be represented through film providing images, soundtrack, voice- over, dance, and some art such as theatrical dan fine art. The Indonesian film played in XXI since 2017 must have English subtitling because the viewers nowadays are not only Indonesian people but also foreigner. The film subtitling is challenging because it is different from the other translation medium. A subtitler requires an appropriate translation strategy. Thus, this study aims to explore the subtitling strategies used in Indonesian film. The approach employed was qualitative with content analysis as a research design. The data used was English subtitling of ‘A Man Called Ahok’ film. The result showed that the dominant substitiling strategies used were repetition indicating the literal translation and addition strategy showing more information given. Respectively, transmutation and detraction strategies are also employed. Former indicated some changes in internal order such as lexical change, passive to active, etc. The latter showed deletion or condension unnecessary or inrelevant information. Substitution strategy is the least used in subtitling which it indicates lack of pharaprasing. This study offers the theoretical and practical contribution on subtitiling strategies especially from Bahasa Indonesia to English. Keywords : Film, audiovisual translation, subtitling, translation strategies.

The Dual-Coding and Multimedia Learning Theories: Film Subtitles as a Vocabulary Teaching Tool

The use of multimedia has often been suggested as a teaching tool in foreign language teaching and learning. In foreign language education, exciting new multimedia applications have appeared over the last years, especially for young learners, but many of these do not seem to produce the desired effect in language development. This article looks into the theories of dual-coding (DCT) and multimedia learning (CTML) as the theoretical basis for the development of more effective digital tools with the use of films and subtitling. Bilingual dual-coding is also presented as a means of indirect access from one language to another and the different types of subtitling are explored regarding their effectiveness, especially in the field of short-term and long-term vocabulary recall and development. Finally, the article looks into some new alternative audiovisual tools that actively engage learners with films and subtitling, tailored towards vocabulary learning.

Polskie tłumaczenie napisowe w 1930 roku

Polish Subtitling in 1930
 Film subtitle translation, contrary to frequently quoted opinions, did not start with the introduction of sound in films, which occurred in Poland in the 1929/30 cinema season. Prior to that, in the silent cinema period, captions were a tried and tested way of delivering content to the viewer. And these silent movie captions were translated. Copies of various foreign films with Polish subtitles have even been preserved instead of the ones with the original wording. Imitating subtitles for silent films, another form of film translation began to appear in films with sound and dialogue. These were the so-called intertitles. The next way of presenting foreign content was a subtitle, which began modern film subtitling. This article concerns film subtitle translation typical of films in Poland in 1930. It endeavours to show the development of Polish film subtitle translation in its initial phase. The article contains previously unpublished pictures of film subtitles from the discussed period, which come from original archival research.